Willits attorney appointed to school board

The Willits school board appointed attorney Chris Neary as its fifth member Wednesday night, replacing Trustee Barb Starr, who resigned on December 1.

This will be the second go-round on the school board for Neary, who served as a trustee from 1980 to 1992, acting as chairman in 1984 and 1991. Neary currently serves as attorney for the North Coast Railroad Authority, the Brooktrails Community Services District and other special districts in Mendocino County, and has represented numerous public entities during his legal career.

In response to the application question, Why do you want to be a school board member?, Neary wrote he sensed the school district's image had been damaged in the community due to the school bond crisis, with "the school board being blamed by those who are quick to blame before all the facts are in."

Neary attended the community forum with bond expert Lori Raineri, and wrote Raineri's "independent analysis established that the school board and the administration were ill-served by financial advisers."

"The first step" in managing the district's fiscal crisis, Neary wrote, is "to restore credibility, first of the board and then of the district in the community."

He cited his familiarity with bond issues, including successfully managing a potential bond default by a client, and his 37 years of experience "in the issues most impacting the district at the present," as assets which could help the board develop a strategy for a favorable resolution to the crisis.

In answer to a question about the strengths of the school district, Neary answered: "The teachers and staff. Willits has always had a stable core of teachers who are dedicated to providing quality education." The board should reward that dedication, Neary wrote, "with an open process in negotiations to assign the highest possible remuneration to the bargaining units."

Neary also expressed interest in the process of choosing a new superintendent, writing that he'd had "significant specific experience in the selection of superintendents and general managers."

When he was on the school board before, Neary told board members Wednesday night, the board's pick of Robert Kirkpatrick as superintendent had "energized the school district in a way we hadn't seen for quite some time."

Neary said a transparent and open selection process for a new superintendent would also be an opportunity to restore the credibility of the district in the community.

The school board voted to authorize executive search firm Leadership Associates to reopen its search for superintendent candidates, with interviews at the end of April and the permanent superintendent to start work on July 1.